LEANING INTO THE NIGHT (photo) & ON BEING BECALMED (non-dream free verse poem) by Roswila

ON BEING BECALMED

and so you tell me (as if it's a request
almost too obvious to state) that you only
want me in my Mother Earth form,
dripping with naked sweetness,
and that I should leave all the others
outside your door

well, dear heart and not-so-gentleman,
if you really desire Mother Earth
you'll have to embrace the occasional
volcano and tsunami and tornado
and earthquake (hopefully not all
at once, of course)

though, seriously and worse yet,
you'll have to stand with me in those
totally becalmed times
beneath a starless midnight sky
on a sea with no horizon

for when all the wind is out
of our sails, and the dark threatens
to smother us, that is when
we discover who we've never
been and who we might still be


[non-dream free verse poem written 9-3-17. This started with some residual anger at a man I'd not been aware of. But as I wrote and edited and edited, it expanded. It's now almost a letter to the world. This expansion of the initial poetic impetus happens with most of my poems. In fact, I usually have very little idea at all where a poem wants to go until it's been written. I follow its lead, sometimes to surprising places. Photo "Leaning Into the Night" (8-21-17 006v4) by Roswila]

PLEASE NOTE: in most browsers you can click on the above image for a larger version. Also, the photo accompanying a post is not necessarily meant to illustrate it, but to reflect some small, even slant aspect of the verse, similar to Japanese haiga (illustrated haiku).

There are many other sorts of posts on this blog. I indicate which are about or influenced by dreams. Some non dream focused posts are book reviews, "regular" poems (some by other writers), scifaiku, writing exercises, Tarot haiku, photos, haiga, and so on. However, most of those are in much older posts. There's a listing by month going back to early 2006, at the end of the sidebar.

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until next time, keep dreaming,

[a/k/a Patricia Kelly]
**** If you wish to copy or use any of my writing or poems, please email me for permission (under “View my complete profile”). Roswila's other blog (dedicated to her photos only, i.e. no poetry or other writing; daily post); TRYING TO HOLD A BOX OF LIGHT.